On the Last Day of 2009...

On the last day of 2009, I am wondering what would a typical student who is about graduate in May-June 2010 be thinking about.

Partying and welcoming the New Year
Making resolutions that are unlikely to last the first week of Jan 2010
Hoping to land a nice job as soon as possible
...
...

One student told me that he is not going to think about placement, jobs, career, etc. on New Year's eve. The logic is that he has been thinking and agonizing about this during the entire 2009, and now wants to forget the trauma for just one evening.

I just reflect on the supply-demand situation for entry level programmers, and I wonder whether the students have thought about this at all. In May-June 2010, we would have 500,000 engineering graduates (out of about 725,000 candidates) and about 10,000 graduates with MCA degrees (not sure about this number). From all industry reports, I gather that there are about 100,000 entry level positions available. Even if we just assume that 40% of these graduates are interested in these positions, there is a serious gap between supply and demand.

The companies are likely to raise the bar and try to recruit only those with significant competencies.

If I were looking for an entry level job in 2010, I would be thinking seriously about how to develop, hone and sharpen my competencies in problem solving, programming and communication skills.

Well, dear students, part hard this evening. Forget the trauma of 2009. Look forward to a great 2010 not just through wishful-thinking, but with the intention of transforming yourself to be among the top folks in your batch so that the supply-demand gap does not leave you behind!

Happy New Year!